Kashif Ali, the first of the South Asian Cricket Academy graduates to earn professional contracts, made two centuries on his County Championship Division One debut with Worcestershire last week. He reflects on his experience, stating that he tries not to think too much about it when he goes into bat. Kashif Ali had played for the second XI for a few different counties and MCC Young Cricketers and scored a decent amount of runs but never got offered that first contract until he got picked for Shahid Afridi's team Rawalakot Hawks in 2022. The leaders of SACA contacted him after watching his highlights and invited him to come back to the UK and start trialling again:
“At that stage, the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) was quite new to the scene as a high-performance pathway and an option for young South Asian players. But the leaders there were following my scores. Kadeer Ali, Worcestershire’s assistant head coach, watched me play and Tom Brown, who’s the MD of SACA, also watched my highlights. They contacted me and asked if I wanted to come back to the UK and start trialling again.”